The present invention provides a graphical navigation tool for use in computer applications through which operators may browse, navigate and select temporal ranges.
Graphical user interfaces are common in modern computing applications. They typically represent data as icons or other graphical objects that can be selected and modified by a computer's pointing device.
Various applications require user input that represents a selection of one or more dates. Personal information managers, for example, permit operators to select a date range and, in response thereto, display scheduling information contained within the selected range. Enterprise resource management applications may use operator selections of data ranges in various ways. Project scheduling applications permit operators to select and display date ranges and to define project milestones therein. Resource reservation systems permit operators to select and display date ranges, and then determine what resources are available within the specified time ranges. Various other implementations are possible.
In any of these instances, computer operators require a convenient mechanism to navigate among candidate dates and select date ranges that are appropriate to the operators' needs. Current tools do not provide a convenient mechanism to permit operators to browse through candidate date ranges at various levels of temporal granularity. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved graphical user interface for browsing and selecting among date ranges in computer applications.